Bye Bye 2019

Well another year another decade almost behind us, it seems like time is just racing away.  What to say about 2019?  I imagine one day the world will look back on this year as the year that the President of the World was born, Sebastian Henry Endara!  But really this has been an amazing year, the entire year spent with Sebastian.  The first seven months with the stress of being pregnant, I spent the entire time worried and nervous.  But then on July 23rd he came, the most entertaining, funny, calm, beautiful baby I have ever seen (well I am mummy!).  The last five months of 2019 have been amazing watching him grow and change almost daily.  This year has not only been good to Sebastian and us though, Lola looks better than she has in years with a new spring in her step.  Our families have over come some sicknesses and have triumphed in the face of cancer.  We are now preparing to bring in the New Year, here at our beautiful home in Phuket with some friends and I could not be more excited to see what 2020 brings us!

Sebastian arrives changing our lives forever

 Spending time with some very special people 

who helped make Sebastians entrance to the world, perfect.  

 A year of learning how to become the best parents we can

 Of new friendships

 Of old friendships

 And even older friendships

 Of baby groups

 Of Lola and Sebastian

Of adventures

And most of all love and happiness.  I am so lucky and blessed to have the family and friends I do around the world.  I want to wish all of them the best in 2020 and I hope to see all at some point somewhere.  And finally I want to say how thankful I am for my small little family around me.  Luis, Sebastian and Lola I love you all very much and am super excited for all the adventures that 2020 brings us!

Not Quite Home

We woke up yesterday morning excited to walk around before having an early lunch at our favourite restaurant and heading to the airport and back to Phuket.

It started great, this place, Ethos, is the best food ever. We had a very filling delicious lunch and then hailed a taxi to catch our flight.

Or so we thought, but on arriving to the crazy busy Bangkok airport I discovered I booked the flight for the 29th of... September not December.  Well done me.

 No problem it is not like December 29th is a busy day to fly...  Only one of the busiest days, so no flight out.  A few hours later going to airlines, searching on line and calling and we had some not so cheap tickets for the next day.  And of course all of this was easy as we did not have a baby with us.. oh wait we did!

 We changed airports, booked a hotel, had a beer and everyone felt a little better and even more excited to get home to Lola.

I could not be more happy to be home with Lola Cola.  It was a great way to end a crazy year.  Well at least no one will be surprised that it is the way I ended my year!

Luang Prabang to Bangkok

Our last few days in Luang Prabang were filled with food, river, views and more temples.  We had a relaxing three days here post Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed what we were able to see of Laos. 

 Such a beautiful place

We found some lovely spots for lunch and dinner (although i have to give much of the credit to Ruth who did most of the research and then was sadly unable to join)

Luis is a temple man so loved all the temples there.  We had a great time in Laos, I wish we had spent some more time exploring this country but it just gives us a reason to visit again when Sebastian is older.  After our week in Laos we started our journey back to Phuket, stopping for a night in Bangkok (well so we thought)...

We spent 24 hours basically eating some delicious food and wandering about.  I am not sure Sebastian was very convinced, I do not think he has ever seen so many people in one spot.  To be fair Khao san road is pretty scary to most people! 

Sebastian's First Christmas

Sebastian's first Christmas was spent just the three of us in the beautiful small city of Luang Prabang.  I am not sure all of his Christmas's will be spent in such interesting and unique places but they will all be filled with love!  It was a super special day and it would have been anywhere in the world.  We had a great Christmas lunch at a hotel on the river and as per usual took far too many pictures.

 Sebastians Christmas morning, Santa brought him a stocking this year (he was taking advantage of the fact that he will know no difference these young years!)

 He loved his books from Auntie Nicola, Uncle Paddy and Cousin Freda

 All ready for Christmas lunch

He had a great day, followed by a lovely walk in the night market. He was so excited that he stayed up until 9pm!  Of course, I missed my loved ones from around the world terribly and so thankful for technology that at the very least we could say a hello and Merry Christmas to most.

Christmas Eve The Mekong

Sebastian is going to be one lucky boy.  Besides having two pretty fabulous parents he will have the added bonus of two Christmas's a year, as Ecuador celebrate on the 24th and me on the 25th.  So yesterday the Christmas festivities began with a sunset cruise on the Mekong followed by bubbles and a present.

 Happy Christmas all!